New to this site

[jd2010 0]

Hello, I am a new user to this site and was hoping members of this forum would be able to advise me on what to do with a store of old coins I have in my desk.

I am a student and coming back this summer I was doing a clearout of junk from my room when I rediscovered some old coins that have been sitting in my desk for the past decade. I can't really remember how I got them but they've certainly been there a while and they hold no sentimental value for me or anyone else in my family, I being the only person showing any curiosity in them.

As they stand they are in 5 sandwich bags each containing about 20 coins, 3 full of one penny pieces ranging from about 1901-1960 with a few extremely worn earlier ones.

The fourth sandwich bag is full of half penny pieces from about 1930-1969, and the 5th bag has sixpence pieces and a few other larger silver coins again from about 1930-1960.

Finally there is a brown hessian-type pouch with an envelope labelled 'Maundy Money' and a large silver coloured coin which is the oldest of the lot being dated 1819 with George III, I think it is a silver crown.

In the envelope is the Maundy Money which I do know a little about and was surprised to find. All four coins are there dated 1901.

I am going to sort through this to give a more detailed picture of what I have found, but as a I go through is there anything in particular to look out for or anything I should avoid doing to the coins, or any way I should store them?

Thankyou, I understand this may be a bit of a long post but I look forward to any replies if you have read this.

[azda 979]

1st of all, welcome to the site, 2nd of all they should'nt be stored in sandwich bags, if there are any rarities in there then all those coins inside will be knocking against each other causing all sorts of nicks and dents, so my advice would be to seperate them first of all. My second suggestion would be to seperate them into monarchs and denomination, then we can work from there.

[Hussulo 6]

Welcome to the forum. It should be fun researching them.

[jd2010 0]

Cheers for the replies, I've binned the sandwich bags and started laying them out in an empty chest of drawers and it looks like the coins aren't that old, the bulk of them being from King George V's time.

So far I have 30 Victorian one penny pieces from 1862 to 1901 with most of them being very well worn with most of the older ones having just outlines of any detail.

There are 42 one penny pieces from King George V's time with an unbroken run from 1902-1921 with a few later ones dotted around.

Also under King George V there is one 1935 six pence piece, one 1928 Florin and one 1921 shilling.

Under King George VI there is one 1948 Half Crown, one 1940 three pence piece, 5 six pence pieces - 1943-44, 1948-49 and 1951.

There is also the 1901 Maundy Money set and the 1819 George III coin that I'm fairly certain is a silver crown.

There are a lot of mixed coins from the 1950s onwards from Elizabeth II with the only standout ones being a large 1977 commemorative type coin and a 1963 Half crown.

[Red Riley 2]

Hi jd2010, welcome to the site.

Starting from the top, your pennies. Unlikely to be very valuable in a worn condition but there are rarities. Look out for 1869 and 1871. Certain, but by no means all pennies of the following dates could have value; 1875, 1895, 1918, 1919 and 1926. British pennies are a complicated series and rare varieties exist from many years but generally, the earlier they are, the greater chance of finding a rare'un. As there are not that many of the earlier ones, you could list the dates and we'll tell you which ones need looking into further.

Unless they are in really good condition, all the sixpences, the threepence, the florin and the half crowns will have little value; the 1977 crown likewise in whatever condition. The 1921 shilling though is quite a scarce date and will have some value depending on condition. The maundy set could be worth anything between £30 to £70, again depending on condition. Suggest you describe the large 1819 coin and compare its condition to the coins you have in your pocket. Is it better or worse? Either that or post a photo.

Remember that pre-1920 is almost pure silver and from 1920-1946 50% silver, and all will have some bullion value.

[jd2010 0]

Here is the 1819 coin:

[jd2010 0]

Also I scanned this penny because I noticed it looks like someone has tried to cut it in a couple of places and was wondering if there is any well known reason for this or use people cut pennies for. Otherwise it also gives a good indication as to the condition of a lot of the 1860's-1910 pennies:

Thanks again, and also I was wondering if there is an image size limit or if these are ok

[Peckris 579]

Here is the 1819 coin:

That's a nice example! (and yes, it is a Geo III Crown). Yours is better than I thought it was going to be. Not far off EF grade. I'd estimate its insurance value at around £150 - £175. Obviously you would get far less if you sold it to a dealer. Also it depends how serious that scratch is on the face, which can only be properly assessed "in hand".

There's a few scarce varieties, but we'd need to know the FULL and EXACT edge inscription, including any stops. I've quoted the price of the standard issue.

[Peckris 579]

Also I scanned this penny because I noticed it looks like someone has tried to cut it in a couple of places and was wondering if there is any well known reason for this or use people cut pennies for. Otherwise it also gives a good indication as to the condition of a lot of the 1860's-1910 pennies:

Thanks again, and also I was wondering if there is an image size limit or if these are ok

150k is the limit (per post).

Nothing special about that penny. Common 1903 - there's a rare 1903 variety but that isn't it. (Just vandalism probably.)

[azda 979]

Lets not forget the 1902 Low tide penny, wasn't mentioned, it is a rarer variety. Also 1918 and 1919 KN, only the dates were mentioned but without the KN

Edited July 1, 2010 by azda

[jd2010 0]

Going through them I'd say a lot of the victorian ones are junk apart from one nice 1900 one. From about 1902 onwards they all are in a reasonable condition. I would say they are a solid base to start a penny collection from which I may start doing, despite my original aim to reduce the clutter in my room they now take up 2 drawers of a chest. It doesn't look like there are any rare ones amongst them but they are definately a nice start.

Around the silver crown is " | ANNO REGNI LIX. | |DECUS |ET TUTAMEN. "

The |'s are very thin lines that run between the words which I included in case they are of any importance.

[azda 979]

If you supply some pictures of the Pennies it would be better to judge the grades, maybe put 6 side by side and take a picture of the OBV and REV then do another 6 and so on

[Peckris 579]

Going through them I'd say a lot of the victorian ones are junk apart from one nice 1900 one. From about 1902 onwards they all are in a reasonable condition. I would say they are a solid base to start a penny collection from which I may start doing, despite my original aim to reduce the clutter in my room they now take up 2 drawers of a chest. It doesn't look like there are any rare ones amongst them but they are definately a nice start.

Around the silver crown is " | ANNO REGNI LIX. | |DECUS |ET TUTAMEN. "

The |'s are very thin lines that run between the words which I included in case they are of any importance.

Thanks. Yes, you have the regular issue. Value is about what I said before.

[1949threepence 3,367]

Your 1819 crown is superb, jd2010.

I note that you say many of your post 1900 pennies (including the 1900 itself) are in pretty good condition . In addition to what has already been said above, may I also suggest you look out for 1926 pennies amongst the collection. 1926 is not a common date to start with, and there is a certain type, called a "modified effigy" (which is just a slight alteration to the King's Head), that is extremely rare. If you can find a 1926, please scan it, and we'll give our opinion.

Pennies dated 1912, 1918 & 1919, may have a small prefix of either "H" or "KN" just to the left of the date. Meaning they were minted at either the Heaton or Kings Norton mint in Birmingham. These are scarce, and if you can find one in good condition, please scan it.Note: the 1912, only has the "H" variety.

[Hussulo 6]

Your 1819 crown is superb, jd2010.

I note that you say many of your post 1900 pennies (including the 1900 itself) are in pretty good condition . In addition to what has already been said above, may I also suggest you look out for 1926 pennies amongst the collection. 1926 is not a common date to start with, and there is a certain type, called a "modified effigy" (which is just a slight alteration to the King's Head), that is extremely rare. If you can find a 1926, please scan it, and we'll give our opinion.

Pennies dated 1912, 1918 & 1919, may have a small prefix of either "H" or "KN" just to the left of the date. Meaning they were minted at either the Heaton or Kings Norton mint in Birmingham. These are scarce, and if you can find one in good condition, please scan it.Note: the 1912, only has the "H" variety.

As 1949 says the mint mark is just left of the date you can see a picture on my site here:

http://www.coinsgb.com/George_V/6-Penny.html

[jd2010 0]

I've had a close look but im fairly certain that none of the pennies are of the different varieties mentioned; there's just a lot of them.

I've decided to put my judgement to the test and try and grade them:

From left to right the first one, 1949, I would say is EF and they go downwards from there.

1900 I thought was high VF but it has come out very badly in the scanner - to the eye it is a far more even tone.

the next two I graded 1914 low VF and 1902 Nearly VF, 1890 I judged F and 1882 P.

How is my eye?

I will scan in a better one of the 1900 one and a scan of the 1926 which I think is normal effigy.

[jd2010 0]

other side of the 1900, and the 1926 which I think is normal effigy because the colons are evenly spaced and the BM is positioned to the left.

[Peckris 579]

I've had a close look but im fairly certain that none of the pennies are of the different varieties mentioned; there's just a lot of them.

I've decided to put my judgement to the test and try and grade them:

From left to right the first one, 1949, I would say is EF and they go downwards from there.

1900 I thought was high VF but it has come out very badly in the scanner - to the eye it is a far more even tone.

the next two I graded 1914 low VF and 1902 Nearly VF, 1890 I judged F and 1882 P.

How is my eye?

I will scan in a better one of the 1900 one and a scan of the 1926 which I think is normal effigy.

Your 1926 is the normal one, and not in too bad a condition.

Your eye is a little over-optimistic! Correct for 1949, the 1900 is certainly VF minimum but it's hard to gauge its surface from the picture (as you say), the 1914 is Fine or maybe even GF but you would have to be able to see all the shield for VF, and the 1902 is only Fine (the shield is quite good, but look at all the flat areas on Britannia).

Sadly there' nothing of any particular value there. The 1926 MIGHT fetch a pound or two on eBay, but perhaps only 99p. There's a scarce(ish) variety of the 1902 where the sea level is below the point where Britannia's legs cross, but I don't THINK yours is that one (and in that grade there's not a huge difference in value between them anyway).

Sorry to be a bit downbeat.

[Guest JamesSimon]

hello, i am new to the site.

i do want to start on collecting coins, since i got them from my uncle who is also a collector. i have 30 coins in total, but i have no idea what they are, all i know is that they are British coins, from way back.

well, i gotta research on identifying each of them before posting, just to look knowledgeable. lol.

well, thanks!

[Peckris 579]

hello, i am new to the site.

i do want to start on collecting coins, since i got them from my uncle who is also a collector. i have 30 coins in total, but i have no idea what they are, all i know is that they are British coins, from way back.

well, i gotta research on identifying each of them before posting, just to look knowledgeable. lol.

well, thanks!

Welcome to the forums James

Pictures or scans of your coins would help a lot. You may have to do it in batches as you can only upload 150k maximum per post.